witesoxfan

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Nov 15, 2005 -> 04:29 PM) Vlad is the best player in baseball. Pujols doesn't have the arm and speed Vlad has. Pujols doesn't need the arm...he possesses a good enough right arm to throw accross the diamond from 1B to 3B, he has versality, and can play both on all 4 corners, while still putting up ridiculous numbers. And since when does Vlad have speed? A 40 for 60 campaign in stolen bases a couple years ago makes him fast? I guess Sosa's pretty fast then too. Pujols is the best pure hitter in the game, and has an unbelievably smooth and powerful swing, where as Vlad just hacks and swings hard as hell. Pujols reminds me a lot of Thomas in his younger days in that it doesn't look like he's a guy that can ever get into a slump, he puts up a gawdy average, hits for a ton of power, and walks more often than he strikes out. There is no hole in his swing, and he is just fundamentally sound all around. I'm not sure it's possible to convince anyone one way or another that Pujols is worse than Vlad. In fact, I'd say Pujols is the best player in the game by far.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Nov 15, 2005 -> 04:23 PM) Ahh..yes, the Wite theories of the leadoff man. LOL...wo0t It holds true though...Jeremy Giambi put up a .375 OBP, and a .794 OPS batting leadoff in 2002...and during that stretch of games, the A's were right around .500. Not much slugging and no speed has never equaled good results leading off.

Players can make a living getting the league minimum for 20 years, investing and putting it away in a bank account to grow, and retire and be set for life. Hell, they could do all that and then get a 40K a year job and be set for the rest of their lives too. That's probably exaggerating a little...but people make $300,000 out to be a very small amount sometimes. If I'm a free agent, and I'm in my prime, I'm looking for money and almost solely money. Baseball immortality is nice, but so is money, and money has more value in the real world. If I'm a free agent, I think my time is coming to an end, and I want a(nother) World Series ring, I am going to a team that has an excellent chance of winning. All cities have their perks and their downfalls, and while I'd like to be near my family the whole time, what if we live in Utah, or Tennessee, or god forbid North or South Dakota? No matter where I go to play, I'm likely going to run into a franchise that does not win much, doesn't have a ton of money to spend, or both. All that being said - why on earth would Paul Konerko be looking for the biggest contract, rather than giving the White Sox a hometown discount? I'm not sure anyone knows how serious his hip condition is - if it could get horrible in an instant, or if it's almost non-existent - but for him, I think he's looking at getting a contract he knows will keep him set for the rest of his life. Same thing applies to Magglio. While I'm not a huge fan of his anymore for the s*** he pulled near the end of his stay with the Sox, he did exactly what I would have done if I were in his position. I have a potentially career ending injury, so I'm going to turn to the best agent in the game to get me the best contract that he possibly can so that if I don't play much after my first year, I'm going to make a lot of money.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Nov 15, 2005 -> 03:56 PM) OPS means squat in a leadoff hitter. I would normally flat out agree, but I want my leadoff hitter not only being able to get on base, but to either be able to steal bases productively or have a little bit of gap power...Pods really had neither, though his injury really killed his ability to steal bases late in the season. To put it into perspective...Podsednik had 6 XBHs in 12 games in the playoffs. He had 29 XBHs in the regular season, in 129 games. If the Sox could get the Podsednik they had in the postseason for a large stretch of games during the regular season, they'd probably be damn near unbeatable in that stretch - similar to how they were in the postseason. A guy who has power, the ability to get on base, and the ability to steal bases productively is one of the most valuable hitters a team can get.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 15, 2005 -> 04:01 PM) On a side note...it's things like this which are why Neal Cotts has a very bright future as a lefty reliever and we shouldn't push him back into the starting rotation unless we have no other choice. Agreed very much so As it is, Cotts doesn't have the pitches necessary to move into the rotation. He has probably the sneakiest fastball of almost anyone in the majors, but aside from that, he doesn't have much. I think I'd much prefer Cotts in the pen for a long time now rather than back in the rotation.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 15, 2005 -> 05:33 AM) Is there a team NOT after Scott Eyre this off-season? I think he'll stick with his Southern California Roots, and re-sign with the Giants FWIW. I saw a clipping somewhere about how all 30 teams called Eyre's agent...I think roto(qwerty)world. I'll see if I can dig it up. EDIT: Here it is "Agent Tommy Tanzer said free agent Scott Eyre has drawn interest from all 30 teams. "I've never seen anything like it in the whole time I've been doing this," Tanzer said. Once the teams realize that Eyre is likely to command at least $9 million over three years, expect a lot of them to drop out."

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 07:59 PM) I think Konerko might have a real shot at an MVP award next year if he can avoid his characteristically slow start (last 4 months of the season his numbers were MVP-worthy, but he was hitting .220 at the end of April), but there's so many people who did so many different things for our team this year...that it's really hard to point at 1 single guy like you can with other teams. Konerko was hitting under .250 at the ASB - .249. So to be at .283 by the end of the year, I'd say he turned it on. One of the best players offensively in the 2nd half. He very quietly put up a .280 40 100 .910 season offensively. The postseason was a different story. He was screaming bloody f***ing murder there, and no one missed it, unless you flat out weren't watching.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Nov 11, 2005 -> 07:23 PM) Or maybe because Carpenter was a better pitcher. He pitched more innings than Willies yet gave up less hits, lees walks, and 43 more K's. A 21-5 record looks better than a 22-10 record in my opinion. Agreed completely This is not mentioning how unbelievably unhittable Carpenter was from June through August. His totals during that time - 12-1 1.45 ERA 0.80 WHIP 5.75 K/BB in 130.1 IP - are hard to fathom. Reminds me a little of Santana last year, except Santana was just unbelievable last year...almost unhittable. He had WHIPs of under 0.70 in a month twice last year, and had a BAA of under .100 in July, while having an ERA of 0.45 in September. Not surprising is that those were the two months his WHIP was under 0.70.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 09:31 AM) If the brown paper bag of money left in the Dominican hotel is not enough evidence what is? Well, for starters, a positive steroid test.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 07:51 PM) I also didn't think much of the Jason Dubois for Gerut for Lawton for Berg set of moves. In the end, it seemed pretty pointless to me. I'll admit that I actually loved the moves. I have no idea about how good Berg is - but, to me, I think he viewed Dubois as useless in the NL. I didn't understand the Gerut at the time, but Lawton had been huge all year up to that point, probably a top 3-5 leadoff hitter in the NL. He put his offense in a positoin to go on a roll. Lawton sucked, and when he found his team dead, he ultimately got a young pitcher for a player in the beginning he felt had no use for. We all know how the Lawton steroid s*** occurred later on, and so by trading him, whether he knew Lawton was on roids or not, he avoided any potential controversy within the clubhouse.

QUOTE(Balance @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 02:53 PM) I don't want to see the NFL expand, for starters. There aren't even 32 good starting QB's in the league. How many more teams are there going to be with starting QB's with the skills of Brooks Bollinger, Kyle Boller, or JP Losman? LA doesn't deserve an NFL team. They can't seem to keep one there for very long. Bollinger's a 3rd or 4th string QB starting due to injuries Boller was a first round pick who is probably in his last year of starting Losman is a second year player out of Tulane who has had his first real player time, and was pulled from his starting job due to ineffectiveness for Kelly Holcomb. I don't believe they're talking expansion really anyways - I think it's more or less a team moving from their current location to LA.

Hafner 5th? Ouch. ARod did deserve this though. Solid defensive 3Bman with great numbers for the AL East champion...Ortiz plays no defense, and when he does it's mediocrely, and the Red Sox pretty much just backed into the Wild Card spot.

QUOTE(BMac41 @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 02:28 PM) No all i said that you have no proof posted on here. Connections. Hears things. Picking up phone, dialing so-and-so's number, and finding the latest. Maybe not that easy...maybe it is. Knowing people does a lot.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 09:30 AM) Old So is Duque/Contreras/Hermanson. What's stopping them? So is Widger. What's stopping him from being on the team. PK? AJP? Crede? Not like we have track stars throughout our entire lineup. There's a reason there is not a gold glove for DH's. 12 homers in 34 games with a bum foot...and you're telling me he's on the decline? He's not the hitter he was 10 years ago...but him on the decline is better than a lot of hitters at their peak. I think the answer is apparently yes. There is a huge mutual respect for Frank, Jerry Reinsdorf, and the White Sox organization. I don't just see them letting him go. I don't really think he wants to sign anywhere else, I think he wants to keep playing, and I don't think KW would have a problem bringing him back to a very incentive laden deal. Like I said, you bring in a Carl Everett - a guy who can be useful as a bench player, but also capable as a starter - and count on him and Thomas to be your everyday DH, and you are fine. Do I hope for better things offensively? Yes - but I also realize how big getting PK resigned is, how big it is to get Garland/Contreras/Crede/Iguchi/AJP/whoever else KW has in mind extensions with the Sox. You can bring in Delgado this year and be hunkey dorey if I even spelled that right, while having an excellent offense...but you have then virtually crippled yourself as far as resigning FAs goes.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 14, 2005 -> 12:05 AM) Wite, you could look at it from the point of view that Shea Stadium has really dented his power, but then I came across these splits from 2005; HOME - .277/.354/.475 AWAY - .224/.296/.429 Add to that, he hits lefties better, count me out. Gimme Durazo for around the same price. Not sure what the cause of that is - he was worse on the road in '04 too. From 01-03, he was excellent on the road. Whether that is a flukey thing, him being more comfortable at Shea Stadium, or simply because he is just flat out better, I'm not sure. I wanna say it reminds me of Thomas's 2004 season against LHP - hit .200 against them in 50 ABs with 3 homers, but had 18 walks for an .840 OPS overall(his OPS against RHP in 2004 was over 1.000), but Thomas's was such a short time frame, and he erased that trend very quickly this past year, hitting .280 with a 1.000+ OPS against lefties. I don't think Piazza playing in USCF would see worse numbers than he put up this year at all.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 11:29 PM) Anyone notice how hard of a dip/decline Piazza is currently on? It's understandable -- he's a catcher, I'd assume that with all the moving they do behind the plate, their legs go pretty fast. Anyways, since and including 2000, his slugging %s have been -- 614, 573, 544, 483, 444, 452. His OPS+ are also on a steady decline -- 159, 150, 140, 124, 108, 103. He's barely a league average hitter now, and if I had to put money on it, I'd say that his numbers wouldn't be a whole lot better than last year, if at all. He'd be a slight upgrade over Carl Everett, but I'd rather just give Thomas another shot (or, platoon Gload and Anderson). Catching has worn on him over the years - that's a given. But Keith, even you have to consider that getting him away from everyday catching, and in fact getting him away from defense all together, along with getting away from the god-awful hitters park that is Shea Stadium and moving to a great hitters Park that is USCF would increase his numbers by atleast a little bit. Like I said before...I'd probably prefer a 4th OF type that can play everyday if necessary to DH for the Sox, while bringing Thomas back to DH. You are counting on Thomas to be your everyday DH, but if his ankle simply cannot take the stress of playing everyday, you have a fallback option that is guaranteed to atleast a little successful. Maybe it doesn't have to be an OFer...perhaps a 1Bman, but I think we all know Gload's fate within the organization. Perhaps it could be a middle infielder, but I'm not sure Nomar would take too kindly to being a supersub if Frank would be able to return at 100%, and there are really no other options out there other than that. Hmm...just thought of a guy who might fit just what I was talking about up above. His value will be lower, for obvious reasons, and he can play all 4 OF spots, though not necessarily well. He gets on base and would be a good #2 hitter if he's healthy. Matt Lawton, anyone?

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 10:50 PM) Who, Anderson? He did well in his brief appearances, but so did McCarthy in his second stint. Seems most people on here were pretty upset he didn't make the playoff roster(s). He would be as ready to come up for good as Anderson. It's much easier to replace .270 13 70 .736 with good-great defense in CF than it is to replace 18-10 with a 3.50 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP in the rotation. Anderson plays poor to mediocre, and he's putting up a .650-.700 OPS, hitting 8th or 9th...and plays well, and he's in Rowand's range, give or take a few points of OPS. I'm not a huge fan of having Anderson start this year...I'd much rather take the Chase Utley route with him and having him be a supersub all over to see if he is ready, and if/when he is ready to take over full-time, to have a better idea of who to move to make room for him.

QUOTE($I Need Money$ @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 10:35 PM) sosa is a free agent? lol what if the white sox signed him? Hell will have frozen over and Brett Favre would have made the game winning 3-pointer in game 9 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

So I take it I'm in the minority? I don't see anything wrong with Piazza as a plan D...that's not a knock on Piazza, because I think he has gas left in the tank is still a pretty solid hitter all around - hell, probably an underrated hitter. I view him more as a last resort if you can't get a number of guys, be it Giles, Thome, Delgado, Overbay, Durazo, and so on down the line. Truth be told...I think I'd almost prefer to bring Thomas back to be the full-time DH while also bringing in a guy that can put up solid numbers if Thomas were to go down as a 4th OFer. Perhaps that player is say Brian Anderson, and perhaps it's someone from outside the organization, and I just can't think of a good player to fill that role off the top of my head. I would say Carl Everett, but there is no way that's happening.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Nov 12, 2005 -> 02:14 PM) Looking into my crystal ball I see Furcal signing with the A's. Once the reality of his value sets in with him & his agent I think the A's will look like a nice fit for him. His value is $8-10 mill a year. Jimmy Rollins, whether you considering him better or worse than Rafael Furcal, is very similar all around. Rollins got 5-$40 from Philly. Therefore, Furcal's value is in that range. I'd venture to guess there's a better chance Furcal ends up in New York starting in CF for the Yankees than there is of Furcal starting at SS for Oakland.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 08:38 PM) Talk about jumping the gun..... the only way that would of happen if he had a Culpepper like tear... which is kind of rare to tear all 3 like Daunte did. I've seen two I can recall off the top of my head. Culpepper's 2 weeks ago and McGahee's from 2002. Both looked just disturbing as hell. What's probably more disturbing is that I have a picture of McGahee's on my computer. I remember seeing it at the time and just having my stomach do a somersault. I mean, it's just like the normal knee goes from | to >(if you can see what I'm talking about)...McGahee's knee is like this Just horrific. I think what's even worse is that I'm a semi-Vikings fan and a pretty hardcore Bills fan.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Nov 13, 2005 -> 06:55 PM) Is it wrong that I find myself laughing? Alright, in-thread poll time: Does Sosa or Palmerio find a home in MLB for the 2006 season? Sosa: Yes Palmerio: No Agree with both Sosa, even though like every sign points to steroid use, has never been proven to be a user. Some team will take a shot on him, and maybe he'll get a decent sized contract because of his name...but coming off the season he came off of, I doubt that. Palmeiro has no chance. Not only is the steroids controversy clouding his reputation as an MLBer, but the fact of the matter is he's a washed up old veteran. He might get a ST invite, but I doubt anything more than that.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Nov 12, 2005 -> 09:16 PM) We need someone who can hit better off righties since we weren't very good at all against them. LeCroy's splits against righties; .228/.319/.322 I tend to think LeCroy will end up elsewhere anyways. I'm looking Cleveland or Boston.

QUOTE(White Sox Josh @ Nov 12, 2005 -> 01:35 AM) not really actually: AJ had a tough time finding a team to play with and I suspect that if Frank doesn't come back to the Sox he might be in that same position. AJP was traded to the Giants(in a complete heist too...Nathan is a top 5 closer in the AL, Liriano's on his way and looks a lot like Santana, and Boof Bonser is pretty solid too), was labeled a cancer, and was then non-tendered by San Francisco. The White Sox have brought Frank back over and over and over, even when he looked down and at his worst, through the best of times and the worst of times. I am not sure I see him going anywhere. Oakland and Baltimore are two teams I could see making a run for him though - Baltimore did have interest in him after the diminished skills clause was invoked, and when there was a chance that Scheuler was going to end up GM there, a lot of signs indicated Baltimore. Oakland makes a ton of sense too because he is one of the best sabermetrical, if you will, baseball players in the majors to this day. The guy can hit .250 for you and still put up a .900 OPS...hell, he hit .220 this year in a little over a month of playing time, and he put up a .900 OPS. He walks like nobody's business, and his power is just ridiculous. Like I said before though - I'm just not sure I see him going anywhere. He seems to love Chicago, and I'm sure something inside of him not only wants 500 homers, but he wants to be apart of a World Series champion, as in actually being on the playoff roster and producing, and not just being a cheerleader on the bench. A guy I can see Minnesota going after and trying to take a chance on his Juan Gonzalez, though I'm not exactly sure how bad his injury was last year. I seem to remember hearing something about the hamstring coming completely off the bone or something very grotesque like that, and that is was an extreme oddity in how severe it really was. When healthy, he puts up good numbers and can flat out rake - one of the few guys in the majors that can put up a decent, but not great OPS, but is still extremely valuable as a hitter.